D.F. El Segundo

Here's the view from our hotel room in San Agustinillo. Well I actually wouldn't call it a hotel room, more like a wooden shack. But we were on the second floor. As I think I said before it was a nice relaxing town with an almost empty beach with good waves. Only one road through town and maybe 10 restaurants. From there to Puerto Escondido then to Acapulco. On the way to Acapulco we had a blow out (pictured below) and had to sit on the side of the road and wait for the next bus to pass through. Then we had to go through a military checkpoint and get searched by guys with really big guns.



Acapulco was a little different. (see below) big everything and not really that nice in my opinion. I think we might have accidentally gone to a Wal-Mart. oops. But we had ice cream and some other good foods. Still really hot and sticky though. I guess not too much to talk about here.

So we left and got right on a bus to Mexico (city). Only 5 hours and 3 bad movies later. And we got to ride the ultra-fancy Estrella de Oro (star of gold) bus line withflod down tv screens, free drinks and a velocity detector that has a really loud alarm and flashes red lights when the driver goes over the speed limit. Now we're staying in a different part of the city in an old, old building that has crooked floors. But we have a giant room with a king sized bed. and it's the cheapest place we've stayed yet. about $15 a night for the two of us. And last night we discovered the Churro restaurant which only serves churros and hot chocolate and is open 24 hours. I think I might have to go every night.

It's starting to feel like the trip is nearing its end. Which I guess is ok since I have no more money. less than 3 weeks.! That's about all I have to say except that I really like Mexico City! I'm sure Kira's blog will fill in all the details.

Puerto Escondido!

Arrived in Puerto Escondido yesterday. This is definitely the party beach. I'm guessing the vacation spot of the whole state of Oaxaca. There's even a giant inflatable bucket of ice and Coronas perched up on the rocks. I'll try to get a picture of it. There are tons of people in the water swimming and food and stuff vendors everywhere. Even stands selling food in the surf with the water crashing under their carts. A big jump from San Agustinillo where there are about 15 people on the beach at a time and almost everything is closed after 6pm. I think only about 200 people live there.

Yes it's HOT here!!! HOT HOT HOT!!! almost too much. but then we jump in the ocean or in the pool or take a cold shower before bed. Thanksgiving was uneventful, we ate a big lunch of spaghetti, salad, french fries, huevos rancheros and tortillas. and a huge pitcher of lemonade.

Tomorrow, assuming we can get bus tickets, we're off to Acupulco then back to Mexico City. Where internet will be cheap again and I'll be able to post some photos.
Now maybe go down to the beach to ride the big banana.

San Agustinillo

At the beach now. very slow internet I type a sentence and then wait for 2 minutes as I watch the words slowly appear. Have to go now. Time to go swimming.

Hasta la vista, Oaxaca!

We just bought our tickets for the beach. Puerto Ángel, San Agustinillo or somewhere like that. Apparently it's REALLY hot there, at least that's what everyone says. At least there's water. It's kind of weird to be leaving Oaxaca since we've definitely made ourselves at home here. We have all our usual places we go and all the usual things we do. Like the market 20 de Noviembre where we eat at least 3 times a week at our favorite puesto (pictured below). But it's also very exciting since I almost forgot that we're travelling and not just living here. Although because of that I think our once light weight packs are now a good 10 pounds heavier. oh well.

Yesterday I was talking to 3 Mexican guys about the US. They told me that it's dangerous to go there because everyone will try to sell you drugs. And you can't even buy a new TV, stereo and camera at the store and walk home without being mugged and probably killed by drug addicts. I laughed and said people in the US thought the same about Mexico. It's funny the ideas people have about places they've never been to. Then they asked me if I could bring them some stuff from the US if I come back. The things requested were a video camera, laptop, digital projector and motorcycle. I said that I would be a little nervous trying to bring all those things across the border. Customs might want to ask me what I was going to do with all that brand new stuff in Mexico. I also told them that I probably wouldn't make it to the safety of Mexico before I got mugged and probably killed by drug addicts.

Schooooooool's out for ever!

Well our stay in Oaxaca is nearing its end. Just got out of my last spanish class. Now I can say my head is about as full as it can get with spanish grammar and I need some time at the beach for it all to soak in. It's exciting to learn a new word or phrase that you thought you never heard before and then after you learn it, hear it everywhere. It's like the whole unintelligible mess you hear everyday on the streets starts to finally make some sense. It's funny to think that I've been hearing some of the same things everyday but never was able to pick out certain words. But mouch of it's still unintelligible. Apparently in Mexico it's customary for police to remove the license plates off of cars that are illegaly parked and wait on the street corner for the owner to come reclaim his or her plates for a fine, or maybe a "fine". I've seen several police standing around holding license plates and one crouched down removing a plate from someones car. I've asked some locals here about it and they say it's normal practice. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera at the time so all I have is a picture of part of the market (top) and all the food we bought (left)

The view

This is pretty much what it looks like every day. Pretty boring huh? Sometimes I wish we could just get some rain!

¡¡FALSO!!

When I tried to pay for my pancito with a $50 bill the woman looked at the bill and said "Falso". She called over a couple others, they each took it and held it up to the light and also said "Falso". Then they got out one of those special pens and marked on it which apparently means falso. They looked like they felt bad for me since I'm just a poor tourist who doesn't know any better when accepting bills from people. Oh well, it will just be another addition to my collection of counterfeit currency. I only have two specimens as of yet but I hope to find more in the future. It was also a learning experience as now I'm slightly more educated in the science of detecting counterfeit currency. http://www.banamex.com.mx/eng/articulos/billetes_falsos.html

I haven't written anything in a while because it seems like there's hardly a free minute in each day to use the internet. Usually I wake up, eat breakfast, study and do homework, take the bus into town, every other day we go to the University to talk with English classes, eat lunch, go to Spanish class, take the bus home, eat some food, walk to Crisóforo's house to talk with him in English and Spanish, walk home, try to read the newspaper and go to bed.

But the weekends are a little more relaxed. Sunday we took a bus to the town of Tlacolula which is about an hour East of Oaxaca. It was market day so the streets were packed with vendors and shoppers. From there we took a taxi to the town of Santa Anna Del Valle in hopes of seeing some textiles. However, the town was pretty much deserted. All we really found was a mutant dog that must have been a mix of 30 different varieties, a drunk guy wandering the streets and two men passed out in the gutter. So it was a brief visit.

That's about it for now. Just over a week more here in Oaxaca before we head to the coast for a break from the city life.